Making The Grade: A Talia O'Malley Novel
by Emmeline C. Thornbrooke
Summary: Talia O'Malley knows there is nothing stronger than family. But when a chance encounter gives her the opportunity to fit in to the Titans' family, she knows she has something prove. But is it to herself, or them?


**Disclaimer: ****_I don't own the Teen Titans. I do however own Talia O'Malley, her family, Lexie, R.G. and Mortar_**

* * *

**Making the Grade**_**  
**_**A Talia O'Malley Novel**

* * *

**Chapter One**

* * *

If you were to ask me when I knew that my life had changed, you would probably expect me to answer with some bullshit about Rella and my mom. While that is true, the real truth is that my life changed the day I fought Mortar, a no-good villain who had been the news only a few days before. But for you to fully understand why, I need to start at the beginning. When the preppy cheerleader with the white-blond hair . . . well, I'll just tell my story.

**. . . .  
**

The school day hadn't even been over for fifteen minutes, and I was standing at my locker waiting for my best friend Alexandra Winter to show up. Lexie had promised me she'd meet up at my locker at the other end of Meadow Wood High School once school let out, and because she never took more than five to seven minutes after the final bell, I knew that Rachelle Grace Hawthorne—a girl I'd been friends with until we were twelve—had probably cornered her in order to yet again attempt to force her to quit being my friend. Like that was ever going to happen. I'd known Lexie since we were three, and we'd been the best of friends practically ever since. R.G. (as she was known) and I had known each other since the middle of kindergarten, when her parents made her become friends with me because we were neighbors, and they mistakenly believed that I had no friends.

I had been standing at my locker, finishing the last bag of skittles that I had bought at lunchtime as I waited for Lexie to show up. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw some movement at the end of the hallway. Believing it was Lexie, I pulled a book out of my locker that my sister Ruth had given to me for Christmas only a couple of months before so that my red-haired friend wouldn't see me blushing. But I also glanced in the mirror that I had hung on my locker as I popped the last of the skittles into my mouth, just in case it actually wasn't Lexie.

As the girl came into view, I could immediately tell she wasn't who I'd initially thought she'd been: her hair was the color of corn silk and she was four inches shorter than Lexie and my own five-six, even though she always claimed she was an inch-and-a-half taller that she was. The only real similarity between my friend and my ex–friend was that they both had fair skin; Lexie's always reminded me of the creamy color my bedroom had been as a child, and R.G.'s reminded of the fine dishware in the china cabinet that we don't use very much.

"What are you doing here? Your locker's near the math building. Not here in the main hall," I said, deliberately choosing my words since I could say the wrong thing without meaning to if I didn't think about what I was saying. If my classmates didn't think I wasn't as clever as I was, then they often thought I was shy, because of the fact I didn't often speak much outside of class except to Lexie.

"What would the fun be if I didn't annoy you?" She was right, of course, at least from her side, but I didn't want to give her the satisfaction of knowing it because, from my side, seeing her squirm was part of the fun as well.

I could feel my smart phone vibrate in the pocket of my dark wash jeans, where I'd just moved it after having it in a pocket in my olive-green messenger bag. My laptop's not necessary at school, so the laptop compartment's nearly always empty unless I was going over to Lexie's. The main compartment held three of my textbooks, a binder, a copy of _The Odyssey _(which we're currently reading in English), a copy of one of books in _The Lord of the Rings _trilogy, and a couple of books on Greek mythology that I got out of the Jump City Public Library. There were also pockets for all my school supplies as well.

"Are you going to get that?" R.G. asked me as I took the last piece of paper out of my locker. That paper was the form I had to fill out for the classes for next school year. I was considering taking another round of psychology, but only when it came time to fill out the schedule would I know if it fit into my schedule.

I shook my head, knowing exactly who had texted me. Lexie's mother, Abigail, worked in the office at the elementary school that Luke and Micah, the youngest two of my brothers, and Naomi, Ruth and Hannah, three of my sisters, attended. Abby would always make sure that I was notified if any of them had to go home before the high school let out, and once two o'clock came, she would text me if I had to pick one of them up early because she was the only one there who actually knew my family's situation.

'_Quit making Lexie try and not be friends with me,_' I signed. Even though she often claimed that she'd forgotten every bit of sign language she had learned from me over the years, I knew she still understood me perfectly well. '_Brandon left you because you're nothing but a stuck-up cheerleader who looks out only for herself!_'

"And you're just an Eco-freak who tries too hard to fit in even when you know you never will. And besides, Luke's a dork for following that superhero team that's always in the news—the Teen Titans._" _My nine-year-old brother may have been a nerd for liking superheroes in general, and the Teen Titans in particular, but he was no dork. Even if he had been a dork, he was still my little brother, and I couldn't stay mad at him for very long no matter what he did to earn a grounding.

'_You know Luke's not a dork.'_ The signs were tight and sharp instead of the loose, flowing signs I used when I wasn't angry. I was born deaf, and though I had learned to speak and read lips, there were times I preferred to sign; mostly those times were when it was getting too dark to read people's lips well, or when I was with my family, dealing with R.G. or with Lexie. It was rare that I was around someone who was like me because I didn't grow up in the Deaf community. Mom had actually wanted me to, she'd told me once, but my father wanted me to be as hearing as possible. They had to compromise; I learned to sign, and took speech therapy in order to learn to speak and read lips, but because my father's stubborn, I ended up attending public school and growing up an outsider. '_And don't call _me_ an Eco-freak!'_

"You. Are. One," R.G. said slowly before she tossed a plastic water bottle into the nearest trashcan. She knew she wanted to get under my skin, and the best way to do that was not show concern for the planet. That, and talk about my brothers and sisters behind my back.

I grabbed the blue butterfly pendant that hung around my neck and began to let the magic build up inside of me. Even though Mom had told me that my magic would work without the pendant one day, that time wasn't right this minute, nor did I see it being any time before I graduated. Compared to Mom's competence with the magic I'd inherited from her, I was a newbie; some days it seemed like I wasn't ever going to be able use my magic with anywhere near the perfection I'd thought Mom had had when I'd been six, and other days there was hope I would be able to sometime in the not-quite-so-near future.

My red-haired friend ran up behind R.G., causing my pendant to drop to the floor. Even though I actually couldn't read Lexie's mind, I had a good idea of what she probably was going to tell me as soon as I caught her eye, and she probably wasn't going let me ever forget that R.G. was nearly cursed. "R.G., go home."

As R.G. walked away, I punched myself lightly in the leg for forgetting to put the paperwork I needed for my senior year into my messenger bag before I left the house. It was all filled out except for the class after lunch, and I had hoped to ask if I could have that time in the school library because I was sure that I would spend a lot of time there with the courses I was planning to take.

I ran through the tentative schedule for next school year— my senior year — in my head, thinking there was something I could switch with a different class. The only thing I could think of was being a TA for the second year ASL class, since I needed the Pre-Calculus, AP European History, Physics and AP English Literature classes I was going to sign up for as soon as I brought in the form, and I really wanted to take Psychology II, so I wasn't planning to drop any of those classes.

'_You forgot the form, didn't you, Ali_?' Lexie signed, looking into my forest colored eyes with eyes that always reminded me of the bluebells that had been my mom's favorite flower when she was growing up in London, '_And _what _was that with R.G._?' Ali was Lexie's pet name for me, and nobody else could call me it.

I nodded. '_As for R.G., the same stuff as usual." _R.G. wasn't the kind of person you really wanted to be friends with. If you did something to hurt her, sooner or later, she would get back at you. I've been learning _that _lesson since I was twelve. '_You want to come over and hang out with me after I pick Luke up?'_

_'Can't. Mom and Dad are hounding me about my grades, and apparently, I'm grounded until I pull them up.' _Lexie was bouncing on her heels, the way she always did when she had to be still. Because of this, her grades weren't the best in the world and I didn't blame her parents for making sure they were brought up.

"Nuts," I said. According to Lexie and my siblings, my voice sounded normal, but like I had a perpetual cold and a slight lisp that was exaggerated when I was angry. Since I have no idea what I sound like, I just have to agree with what Lexie and my siblings say. "Let me know if you...need help with your school work."

Lexie nodded. "Gotta go. Mom wants me do research for the project that's due next week in history class." Besides not wanting to sit still, Lexie was the kind of person who always put things off until the last-minute, and I guess Abby wanted her to go to the library to research the civil rights movement. "Maybe I'll Skype you later. Text you when I know for sure."

_How long will I be able to keep the charade up?_ I thought as I watched her disappear from sight, _ I know I need to tell her how I feel, but if she doesn't feel the same way about me, I don't know if it's possible to remain friends for long. I don't want to ruin my friendship with her._

I buried my face in my hands for a second, and then grabbed my messenger bag. Luke was waiting for me in the principal's office at the elementary school, no doubt having been suspended yet again for fighting, and I didn't want him waiting any longer than necessary.

Meadow Wood Elementary School was only a few minutes walk away from the high school, so I didn't take long to reach the newest school in the district. It was built just before Luke and Ruth started kindergarten, so they, Hannah and Micah are the only one who really got to attend it. By the time it opened, I was in fifth grade and wasn't going to be able to really enjoy the school before having to move to the school across Davenport Avenue, Meadow Wood Junior High, the next fall.

After closing the office door, I shyly waved to Abby and took a seat. I was always more than nervous when had to come pick up Luke after he was suspended. Somehow, I always felt more relaxed if I had to pick up Naomi or Hannah or Micah because they were sick than when it was Luke I was there for.

While I was waiting to go into the principal's office, I decided to get a head start on some trigonometry homework that had been assigned during my first period math class, figuring that the more I got done now, the earlier I could go to bed, even though anything assigned that day wouldn't be turned in until Friday. That was the downfall of having block schedules and my idea of getting homework done the night it was assigned. Even though I hadn't accidentally left any homework on my mahogany desk or on the kitchen counter (with the exception of the form I had wanted to turn in), I was always worried I would one day.

After A few minutes and a couple of math problems, I walked into the principal's office. Luke was sitting there, as I'd expected him to be. Just like the rest of my siblings, Luke and I had a skin tone that my sister, Hannah once said was brown sugar covering a green olive, and hair that was the color of the sky on a moonless night. Luke's hair was curly and came to the top of his ears, and mine was waist length and done up in braids that hit the front of my waist. And unlike my forest colored eyes, his were a dull brown. _'__Luke, could you explain to me why I'm here?' _

Luke shook his head. '_No way, Talia. You're just gonna ground me again.' _He was right, after all. Even if he didn't tell me the reason he'd gotten into a fight, I was still going to be grounding him for the duration of his suspension, if not longer than that.

"Luke Samuel O'Malley, you better tell me why you got into a fight." I knew he wasn't going to tell me on his own, and that was part of why I was sitting in the principal's office, pressuring the nine-year old into telling me exactly what happened. He'd been suspended so much since first grade that I really hadn't understood how my mother had had the patience to deal with him, because at times, it felt like I certainly didn't.

'_Some boy was making fun of you, Talia. I had to get him to stop.' _Yeah, right. If I didn't know my own brother, I would actually believe him. However, more often than not, he was the one who was the instigator, and I suspected that it wasn't because of me.

I was trying to pay attention to what was going on, but every time I figured out a sentence, my thoughts turned elsewhere - what I was planning to make for dinner, what the answer to problem number twenty-five was on my trig homework, didn't I need to bake a chocolate and raspberry crumb cake with green frosting by mid day on Sunday for Lexie's St. Patrick Day's themed birthday party, and oh, her hair cut looks really nice. _Stop it, Talia Elizabeth. Think of something else. What's the first line of The Odyssey? Something about a muse with rust colored hair and eyes the color of ...knock it off, Talia. Just pay attention to the principal. Listen to what she's saying, and not try to dwell on the girl you...oh, I give up! I have to tell her how I feel sooner or later, before I completely go nuts.  
_

"How long is Luke suspended for?" I couldn't leave him with Mrs. Wiles every weekday for more than a day or two. Not when she complained almost every other day about him getting in arguments with my six-year-old brother, Micah. And besides, I was sure he'd make her crazy.

"Two weeks, Talia. And I hope that he straightens out in that time." I didn't know what I was going to do about him for two weeks. I had school, and besides, he wasn't old enough to be home alone _that _long. _Maybe__ if I tried talking to Dad if I'm up when he does manage to drag himself through door when he thinks I should be asleep, he might have an idea. But I doubt _he's _going to want to talk to _me _when I've always looked like so much like Mom.  
_

"Me too," I said, glaring at Luke. I realized when I first walked into the principal's office that Luke was in one of his moods where he thought he could make me lipread and talk, and I knew I'd be having a talk with him when we got home. "I'll talk to my dad and see what we can come up with."

The principal didn't know the whole story. And frankly, I didn't think she needed to, so that one little lie could slip by unnoticed by anyone who wasn't my best friend's mother. All the principal knew was our dad, Andrew, worked long hours and it wasn't often he could get away from the office.

After glaring at Luke again, I thanked the principal for allowing me to come in. Most of the other parents looked at me sideways when they saw me coming in to the office, and I suspected they talked about me behind me and my siblings backs. I knew they didn't take kindly to a sixteen year old going in for conferences of any sort, and I didn't blame them at all. There wasn't any other option when my father chose to be at his office more than he wanted to be at home. I don't even think my baby sister, Arielle even knows who he is; he has been in her life almost as much as my mom was, and that is virtually not at all.

'_Let's go,' _I signed, trying to not look at the smug look he was shooting my way, '_Now!_'

As we walked out of the office, I tried my best to ignore my brother, who was trying to talk with me. If I ignored him, maybe that would force him to think about what he'd done and _maybe _think about what he'd done. But the chances of him completely stopping were so slim that I really didn't think it was going to happen. It didn't hurt to try.

Halfway across the parking lot, the earth began to shake. I didn't know whether it was an earthquake, or what, but I knew that something had happened. Whatever it was, I yelled at Luke to get down on the ground. As I dropped to the ground, I saw someone who had been on the news only a few days before.

* * *

**What did you think? Don't forget to review! Special thanks to Pepper1622 for beta reading this story.  
**


End file.
